Exploring new ways of seeing, new ways of being with an open heart and an open mind

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Becoming Masters of Simplicity

Humanity grows more and more intelligent, yet there is clearly more trouble and less happiness daily. How can this be so?
It is because intelligence is not the same thing as wisdom. When a
society misuses partial intelligence and ignores holistic wisdom, its
people forget the benefits of a plain and natural life. Seduced
by their desires, emotions, and egos, they become slaves to bodily
demands, to luxuries, to power and unbalanced religion and psychological excuses. Then the reign of calamity and confusion begins. Nonetheless, superior people can awaken during times of turmoil to lead
others out of the mire. But how can the one liberate the many? By first
liberating his own being. He does this not by elevating himself, but by
lowering himself. He lowers himself to that which is
simple, modest, true; integrating it into himself, he becomes a master
of simplicity, modesty, truth. Completely emancipated from
his former false life, he discovers his original pure nature, which is
the pure nature of the universe. Freely and spontaneously
releasing his divine energy, he constantly transcends complicated
situations and draws everything around him back into an integral oneness. Because he is a living divinity, when he acts, the universe
acts. ~ LaoTzu

32 comments:

There is a fine line here. I agree with the idea of "simplicity" in our lives... but I wonder if, like the Dali Lama and the Pope, that Lao Tzu wouldn't have embraced the technology of communication. Without a complicated process of discovery and drive in humans, we wouldn't have this ability to teach, tell others, share and find information.He lived in a fairly simple period of history as far as technology. Simplicity has many definitions.I do agree with his, "... intelligence is not the same thing as wisdom." So true, so true.Good post.

I think many of us are trying to simplify. But when we let go of some task or goal we begin to feel guilty, we have trouble giving ourselves permission. Another piece, for me, is that I need to divest myself of a whole lot of material things, but that is a big project. I have to finish a couple of serious commitments that I will NOT drop before I can make a lot of progress in that regard. So I try to simplify by ignoring what I cannot address. As I write that I realize that this, taken too far, gets people into big trouble.

We tend to let things accumulate around us in so many areas of life. Our stuff comes to represent our lives and our thoughts become crowded along with our lives. I've found the more I simplify the happier I am and the more liberated I feel. We do it only when we're ready. Moving to Santa Fe and then back again eight years later gave me the opportunity.

We've wandered off the beaten path made for us by millions of years of evolution. And by doing so lost our collective wisdom. Computers, for example, are intelligent yet have no collective memory that integrates emotion. One has to wonder how "intelligent" we have become.

On my second read-through, something occurred to me that I've not thought of before. One of my favorite songs, combining inspiration and aspiration, is old Quaker hymn: "Tis a gift to be simple..." While it certainly is true that we can and perhaps should expend some energy in working toward simplicity, it also is true that simplicity often comes as a gift. Simple moments, simple pleasures, the simplicity of a quiet spirit - when those gifts arrive, we can be tempted to reject them precisely because of their simplicity.

Something else that caught my attention is the remarkable parallelism between LaoTzu's concept of lowering and the Christian concept of God lowering himself to take on human flesh. East and West seems to be agreeing at least on that one point - humility and simplicity belong together.

Hello Teresa, I wanted to wish you a lovely and happy week-end with your sweet Buddy. I hope the bear has gone. It is a beautiful photo with the horses. Horses are so beautiful don't you think.

That 's a wise guy, that old Chinese Lao Tzu. I like his way with words.We do not live in a simple world now. We are influenced by so many things each day and we have to create our own simple world in between. This is difficult - for we have to live as social creatures. I like the simple life, but I must admit that I love a little luxury too.I am trying to be a good girl, but I'm not perfect.Nodody is. That's my comfort!Have a very, very nice week-end, Teresa.Wruff, Buddy!Grethe `) ´)

Hello Grethe! So nice to hear form you. No sign of the bear for a while now ... will be hibernating soon I suspect.Life is awfully complicated and I have a few luxuries I'd have trouble letting go of as well. we simplify as best we can and learning to let go of some of my stuff has been very liberating... No, nobody is perfect, least of all me. :))

The problem is that both "partial intelligence " and "holistic wisdom" are rather subjective terms. One mans' partial intelligence could be another mans universal theory. And then we get to superior people leading others out of the mire and I begin to feel uncomfortable again. But it certainly made me think which, I suspect, was the purpose of the post in the first place.